A-G: 1MDB did nothing wrong

PUTRAJAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia did not stop 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) from remitting cash to investments abroad despite being the gatekeeper, said the Attorney-General.

Addressing reports on why the A-G’s Chambers had not acted on Bank Negara’s recommendation against the state fund, Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali said it was because there was no offence to act on.

He said the alleged offence under the Exchange Control Act 1953 only applied if the company involved knowingly made a false statement to the central bank.

He said the forms required to make a cash transfer did not require applicants to supply the names or bank account numbers of the recipients or the manner in which the funds were channelled.

“Since there is no requirement, the omission on the 1MDB official’s part to disclose is not an offence under the Act,” he added.

He put the blame on Bank Negara as the controller for not requesting further information from the fund, stopping the remittance or directing Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Bhd to advise 1MDB to revert to Bank Negara for a review of the permission.

At a lightning-fast press conference, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali said he had cleared 1Malaysia Development Bhd of any wrongdoing because it had answered all of Bank Negara’s questions. His first press conference was over in minutes as he did not take any questions from the more than 50 journalists present.

1MDB had obtained three permissions from Bank Negara to make remittances on Sept 29, 2009, Sept 6, 2010, and May 20, 2011.

Mohd Apandi said Bank Negara had taken no more than three days to approve them on all three occasions.

This contradicts Bank Negara’s decision on Oct 9 to revoke three permissions granted to 1MDB for investments abroad worth US$1.83bil (RM7.58bil).

In a statement, the central bank had said that the permissions were revoked because the investments were obtained based on inaccurate or incomplete disclosure of information.

“If Bank Negara does not request certain information, how could 1MDB be faulted as it has filled up the form as required and responded to the queries made?” Mohd Apandi asked.

“In this respect and given the fact that there is no new evidence made available, we do not see the necessity to review,” he concluded.

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